Colorado May Green-Light Naturopathic Doctors, Against Warning

In 2006, Colorado cancer patient Sean Flanagan, 18, died soon after receiving naturopathic injections of hydrogen peroxide and his own blood that was irradiated with ultraviolet light. An unlicensed naturopath, Brian O'Connell, pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide and practicing medicine without a license. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

"Naturopathic doctors" (NDs) in Colorado exploited Sean Flanagan's death for state regulation, which brings appearances of legitimacy to these NDs who graduated from programs accredited by the profession itself. The Colorado Naturopathic Doctor Act went into effect in 2014. The bill was supported by Sean's mother, who viewed her son's death "at the hands of a man claiming to be a doctor."

Now ten years after Sean's death, Colorado's Naturopathic Doctor Act is scheduled to expire in September 2017. A new bill, SB 106, continues the regulation of naturopathic doctors until 2022 and adds prescription privileges for chelating agents and hormones. Naturopathic doctors use chelation, a lead poisoning treatment, in a variety of unproven manners for cardiovascular disease, autism and "detoxification." And hormones pose severe health risks. The current act allows the intravenous injection of "homeopathic preparations, natural medicines and therapies," as well as using "other modalities that are designed to support, stimulate or supplement the human body's own natural self-healing processes."

Ambiguous phrasing and undefined uses for these "red-flag"medications that NDs misappropriate allow them to practice in a legal gray zone. Naturopathic doctor Stephen Parcell in Boulder, Colorado, is a case in point. His practice advertises intravenous hydrogen peroxide, ultraviolet blood irradiation and chelation treatments. The latter costs $2,000 to $3,000 for an "effective course of treatment over one year."

Intravenous hydrogen peroxide and UV light blood irradiation are dangerous and have no medical justification. The company behind the UV light device used in Parcell's practice, UVLRx, was running dubious and possibly illegal clinical trials in the U.S., mostly in naturopathic clinics, until I reported on the situation last September. Despite chelation having yet to be added to the Naturopathic Doctor Act, Parcell admits on his blog that he has "been administering this treatment for many years." Naturopathic doctor Mary Shackleton in Boulder, Colorado, also offers chelation therapy. Both Shackleton and Parcell practice with a medical doctor, which may be how they get away with treatments that are off-limits to registered naturopaths.

The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) in Colorado is dropping the ball. Its 2016 sunset review of the Naturopathic Doctor Act, which was meant to evaluate the law and the need for continued regulation, failed to give comprehensive scrutiny of naturopathic practices. According to Linda Rosa, an outspoken advocate for patient safety and skeptic of naturopathic medicine, DORA "totally ignored critical testimony, notably two hours of testimony from six internationally renowned experts."

I participated in this two-hour conference call with DORA, along with Dr. Paul Offit, Jann Bellamy of the Society for Science-Based Medicine and four other medical experts. DORA's 33-page sunset review summarized our concerns of naturopathic medicine in one sentence:

Some critics of naturopathic doctors believe that naturopathic medicine and other forms of alternative care should be prohibited because if they were effective they would be incorporated into the practice of medicine, and only medical doctors should be allowed to practice medicine.

This summary disregards grave concerns for patient safety and the systemic failure of the naturopathic education system to provide its graduates with doctoral-level medical training, which NDs developed and continue to run without critical oversight. The original Colorado registration law was meant to help patients easily identify NDs from accredited naturopathic programs, who claim to have been trained in primary care medicine. By omitting our critique, DORA prevented lawmakers from learning that naturopathic doctors are trained to use treatments with extremely poor evidence for safety and effectiveness and can lead patients to delay or avoid credible medical care. Colorado's naturopathic registration validates dangerous "therapies"—the same ones that killed Sean Flanagan—for use by naturopathic doctors.

The new naturopathic registration bill, SB 106, will be heard by the Colorado Senate tomorrow, April 17th.

Britt Marie Hermes is an ex-naturopath who practiced in Washington and Arizona. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.